Friends

I do wish that the weather would make up it's mind what it wants to be! Just when you start to dream that a sunny summer could be just around the corner, a few days of heavy rain bring you back to reality!

I've been telling hubby for a while now not to put bread on the patio for the birds as it's not the best thing for them to eat. Finally I found an article on the subject and that, plus the heavy rain causing the bread to make a soggy mess on the patio which I made him clear up, he decided to stop it.  In return I bought some special wild bird food balls that he could put out for them. Neither of us could believe how hungry our fine feathered friends are, they may be wee but they've gone through one ball every other day & I'm now down to the last one - something else for the weekly shopping list!

I thought I had my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge sorted out - oh how wrong could I be when I realised, after I'd made it, that I had used the exact same stamps I'd used a few weeks ago! Ah well, it was back to the drawing board to come up with a new card to fit in with this week's sketch:

The original card I came up with used stamps from the Penny Black "You're Retro" set. I used some Spray Distress Inks to create the multi-coloured back layer:

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Blue - Crelando

Stamps

You're Retro Stamp set - Penny Black

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Promarkers - Letraset / Winsor & Newton

Once I'd realised what I'd done I started looking through my crafty stash to see what I had and found a Darice embossing folder "Feathers on Side" and decided to try something with that.

I thought instead of using different layers I would try using different colours on the same piece of card and used a highlighted part of the design to form the area where the dark strip is in the sketch. Once the Distress Inks (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers & Seedless Preserves) were on I used some Starlight Gelly Roll pen over metallic Promarker to create the highlighted area. The sentiment was stamped using clear Versamark and set using silver embossing powder.

I had problems trying to get photos which showed the embossed stamp in the correct colour- some made them look black instead of silver, whilst not the best, these hopefully these show the detail.

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

True Friendship Stamp set - Kaisercraft

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Promarkers - Letraset/Winsor & Newton

Gelly Roll - Sakura

Urban Cool

Been busy working on a Birthday card and present for our Great Niece's 4th Birthday on Tuesday (aka tomorrow!).  I kind of got carried away working on things for Annie's "Fairy Door" and ended up really cutting it a bit fine with this week's entry to the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge - managed to post with 10 minutes to spare!

As soon as I saw the bird I knew I what I had to do! Yep, bring out my Tim Holtz stamp folder!

I teamed the Tim Holtz bird up with some Woodware Clear Magic Graffiti stamps and Crafter's Companion Walls and Corners Texture stamps.

Phew - now back to hopefully getting Annie's things assembled & finished tonight!

Butterflies

Yippee! The sun is bright, the skies are blue - it would appear that Spring really has sprung! Hard to believe that there was snow on the hills a week or so ago - some parts of Scotland were warmer than some parts of the Mediterranean!

Had my son out for some driving lessons at the weekend - didn't get off to a good start as when we got to the car rental company he suddenly remembered that he'd left his licence at home! Back in my car to get the paperwork from home and then back again - fortunately they let us get the hire car for the full 2 hours we had booked. I took him a bit further afield this time to a local industrial estate which has quiet roads on a Sunday and plenty of them to get a good bit of driving done instead of a lot of stops and starts on smaller roads - even went over our mileage allowance. He actually felt as though he was doing some "proper" driving - and managed to overcome his reluctance to get out of 2nd & finally got the car into 4th gear! He just needs to calm down a wee bit with his overenthusiastic steering technique. Once again, thank goodness for dual controls - he wanted to do some tree hugging!

This week's Freshly Made Sketches Sketch had me scratching my head a bit - probably because I left it to the last minute.

When we were out driving yesterday we saw butterflies just about everywhere we went so with that as a theme I decided on the Butterfly Floral Lattice from Kaisercraft.

I knew I wanted to use some distress inks in the background so decided to make my own background paper - several attempts with sprays later, I decided that using the ink pads and a blender tool may be a better, easier, idea. I have used graduated brown, green & pink colours down one side then sprayed it with some bleach solution and came up with this. 

I wasn't too sure which sentiment I wanted to use, the sketch shows a sentiment going across the width of the card. I wanted something that didn't take away from the image so in the absence of any velum (I know I have some somewhere if only I could find it!) I decided on strands of twine across the card and a small sentiment that would fit into the white area.

I Used

Cardstock

A6 Card Blank - Anita

Smooth Uncoated White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

Butterfly Floral Lattice - Kaisercraft

Love (from Flutterby set) -Debbie Moore 

Inks

Assorted Distress Ink Pads - Tim Holtz

Versafine Vintage Sepia - Tsukinenko

Lovely Day

Well it would be if the weather would make it's mind up what it wants to do! At least it's stopped snowing & hailstones. The sun is lovely when it's out, the inside of the car is like an oven, and I'm sure it would be quite warm outside if only the wind would go away! I've bought some border plants to bring a bit more colour into the garden, just need a break in the weather to have them planted out. 

My son starts study leave tomorrow, I do hope he remembers that the time off is for studying for exams and not for playing "Magic The Gathering" with his friends!

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge I, once again, couldn't quite make up my mind what to submit as I had made two different cards.

The first was made using freebie stamps and dies from the latest Crafter's Companion Inspirations magazine. The dies are intended for their new Diamond Press mini die machine but they work fine in my Sapphire. The hexagonal dies come in two versions, plain and stitched and the stamps are florals, bees and stitches so the choice seemed to be either a quilting theme or some busy bees.
I opted for the quilting. 

A sheet of card was stamped with a hexagonal stamp which has floral design & had Distress Inks dabbed on randomly for a multi colour fabric effect. The stamped images were then cut out using the stitched effect dies.

                                                                   

                      

I Used

Cardstock
300gsm Card Blank - Anita's

300gsm Smooth Card - Fabiano

Pearlised s/s Card - Create & Craft

Stamps & Dies

Crafter's Companion

Inks

Assorted - Distress Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

My other card uses a stamp from a set by Lindsay Mason and features a rather motley (or should that be muttley) crew of pooches.

                                          

They are a bunch of cuties, I think Jack was a wee bit jealous that they were getting more attention than him! In fact as I was colouring them in he jumped up behind me on my chair & sent my Promarker folders flying - pesky pup!

I decided the little poodle was a bit of a pampered princess so gave her a pink rinse. I used the colours in the bandana for the side panel and the sentiments came from a Simply Cards & Papercrafts magazine freebie set called "Furry Friends". 

I Used

Cardstock
300gsm Card Blank - Anita's

300gsm Smooth Card - Fabiano

Stamps
"Dogs 3" - Lindsay Mason, Personal Impressions

"Furry Friends" Sentiments - Simply Cards & Papercrafts

Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Assorted - Promarkers

Just Because

Hard to believe that I have reached 100 posts - but I have and this is it!

The mature cherry tree opposite our house has finally decided that it's Spring and the first cluster of blossom has appeared. However, today, the weather hasn't decided what season it's meant to be! Never mind four seasons in one day we had four seasons in the space of an hour! Nice bright sunshine had the patio doors opened and our wee Jack out in the garden, next he came running into the house because he was being pelted with hailstones! The sun comes back out and I decided that I was going to go out and do some background papers with spray Distress Ink but the wind was making it go places I didn't really want it to and all of a sudden out of the sky came not hailstones this time but teeny, tiny, little snowballs - weird!

One of the reasons I was making background paper with Distress Ink is that I was wanting to use some for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  I had a few attempts at making cards using the sketch but I wasn't entirely happy with them so decided to try something else instead.

Eventually I decided on using one of the Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 dies to create a background and took it from there and came up with this:

The doily die from the Mixed Media #2 set was cut into the card blank and the backed with card which had been sprayed with Distress Ink and bleach to create a background. A strip was cut from the background to create a strap of card to go under the die (I positioned it to match up to where it was cut from).

I used

Cardstock

A6 Card Blank - Papermania

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Dies & Stamps

Doily, Mixed Media #2 - Tim Holtz

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Just Because - Paula Pascal Mixed Sentiments

Inks

Distress Ink Sprays - Tim Holtz

Assorted Promarkers

Here are the ones that didn't quite make it:

This was the first one.  I really wasn't happy with that orange blob in the middle - but as the sentiment says "Don't be afraid to make mistakes"!

It was shortly followed by this one using a Crafter's Companion die coloured with Distress Ink. It was this one that gave me the idea using the Mixed Media die.

I Used

Cardstock

White Smooth 300gsm - Fabiano

Dies, Embossing Folders & Stamps

Spring Garden - Crafter's Companion

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Random Thoughts - Lindsay Mason

Don't Be Afraid - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Onyx Black - Versafine

Assorted Promarkers

This one isn't based on the sketch but as I had stamped, coloured and cut out the bird out I decided to make a card with it anyway.

Hang On!

Had my son out for another driving lesson this weekend. It's been 2 weeks since his first one as I left it too late to book a car for last week. While we were sorting out the paperwork for this hire I booked us up for the next 4 weekends just in case I forget again!

He's doing really well so far. Now if he makes a mistake he remembers to put the handbrake (parking brake) on first before throwing his hands across his face and giving it "aarrrggghhhh!!!" although, fortunately, the incidents of this are decreasing! He has however now decided that 20 miles an hour is plenty fast enough for him to handle for the moment but it's all a confidence thing & the more we go out the better it will be.

It doesn't happen very often but when I saw the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge for this week I actually knew what I was going to do with it!

I've wanted to use this sentiment for a wee while now and thought it was just the thing to go with this stamp - love the surprised expression on kitty's face!

The cloud background was created using Tim Holtz Distress Ink and stamped with the image from Penny Black "Bubbles". A variety of blue and grey Promarkers were used to colour the cat, balloons and two rectangles cut from the white cardstock. The lighter coloured rectangle was stamped with the sentiment from the Lindsay Mason's "Random Thoughts" set.

I used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

Bubbles - Penny Black

Random Thoughts - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Onyx Black -  Versafine

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Faded Jeans - Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Shop Til You Drop!

It doesn't take much shopping to make me drop these days, going out for a couple of hours can take me a couple of days to recover, hence I do a lot online be it the mundane grocery shop or more fun crafty stuff.

Some stamps I ordered from Amazon a few weeks ago, Penny Black's "You're Retro", finally arrived - unfortunately they were too late for the occasions I originally had them in mind for but they are great for cards for my friend's charity work. I wasn't too happy that the original order was cancelled by the seller without any explanation several days after they sent me an email saying it had been dispatched, same seller did the same thing on a previous order. It was even more annoying because they were still listed as being in stock & being offered for sale by that seller. Never mind, I managed to get them from another seller and now they're here it's been time to play!

The Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week I found to be exactly that - a

challenge. I don't know why but I just couldn't decide what to do and when I did I just couldn't seem to get those two side triangles to fit right then I had one of those "Doh" moments and it came together. It took me a wee while but I got there in the end!

A couple of weeks ago I got an 8x8" Lily of The Valley Nit Wits Collection "Perfect Pair" paper pad free with a craft magazine that were mentally "filed under 'L' for Later". The papers have some rather nice Spring/Summer designs so I had a look in my stash and found a nice spring-like green to use as a background.

The stamps used are from the Penny Black "You're Retro" set and to colour I sorted through my Promarkers and found some colours which approximately match those in the printed paper.

I Used

Cardstock

White - Fabiano 300gsm Smooth

Green - American Crafts, Summer

Pattern - Lily of the Valley, "Perfect Pair" Paper Pad

Stamps

"You're Retro" - Penny Black T for Transparent

Sentiments

"Meow!!"/"Never under estimate . . ." Stampendous "Cat Sayings"
"Growing old is compulsory . . ." Lindsay Mason "Smiles and Years"
"The older you get . . ." Lindsay Mason "Age Doesn't Matter"

Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Promarkers - Letraset/Winsor & Newton

Other stamps from the Penny Black You're Retro stamp set:

April 3rd

April 3rd is an important day in our household.

April 3rd 1982. My husband was one of 22 Royal Marines who under the command of Acting Lieutenant Keith Mills RM  defended the small island of South Georgia against an Argentine invasion force of hundreds for several hours before finally being forced to surrender.*

April 3rd 1999 was the day our son made his first appearance into this world. Within minutes he was in an incubator hooked up to wires and tubes fighting to survive in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. He is now taller than his Mum & Dad and a typical teenager.

April 3rd 2016 and Liam's 17th Birthday. When he eventually parted company with his bed and opened his presents it was a mad dash to get to the car hire in time to pick up the dual control car for his first lesson. Once the formalities were taken care of, I drove him to the industrial estate just around the corner to start his lesson - not driven a stick shift for at least 5 years so I was able to show him how to stall the engine before we'd left the forecourt!

He was rather excited about being in the car and it was showing as soon as he got behind the wheel - I had to remind him to breathe on more than one occasion! Once we got the "Cockpit Drill" done and went over what all the different controls did it was time to have a go at actually getting the car actually moving He got it moving off first time but is going to have to learn not to press down so hard on the gas! There were a couple of stalls and a bit of "I can't do this" but I just reminded him if he keeps telling himself he can't then he won't! I also asked him if he had read what was on the Birthday card I'd made for him but apparently he had only looked at the picture - typical teenager! I told him if he looked carefully at the words he would see the line "You are . . . Smarter than you think . . ."!

On the way home driving my automatic transmission car I found that old habits die hard and much to the amusement of my boy I kept going to use the gear stick only to grab a handful of air!

For his Birthday card I used this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge sketch as it's base.

and came up with this:

I Used 

Cardstock:

Blue & Green - American Crafts, Summer

White - Fabriano 300gsm

Dies, Embossing Folders & Stamps

Bird Crazy - Sizzix/Tim Holtz

Star - Nellie Snellen

Bird Crazy -  Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz

Quintessential Quotes- Rangers/Dyan Reavely Dylusions

Dotted Chevron A4 Folder - EBosser/Theresa Collins

Inks

Promarkers - Winsor & Newton/Letraset

Tuxedo Black - Memento

* April 3rd 1982. My husband was one of 22 Royal Marines who under the command of Acting Lieutenant Keith Mills RM  defended the small island of South Georgia against an Argentine invasion force of hundreds. They holed a warship with an anti-tank weapon, downed a helicopter and held the Argentines off  for several hours before finally being defeated. There is a very famous photograph taken of them before the invasion began that was lucky to survive and only did so because the Argentine who took Lt Mill's camera couldn't work out how to open it! Below I've linked an interesting interview with Keith Mills given to the BBC for the 30th Anniversary.

Keith Mills Interview

Invasion - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Life's An Adventure

Only a week to go until my boy turns 17 and I make good on the promise I've made to him over the many years he's asked me "When I'm old enough, will you teach me to drive?" So next Sunday I'm going to give him his first driving lessons! It's been a while since I've taught so the lesson plans are being dug out from the depths of my filing system and I've got some homework to do to see what changes there have been to the test! I've decided not to do it all myself so after the initial couple of hours of basics he will be going out with an ADI & I'll be taking him out for practice sessions. As I no longer have a dual controlled car I've hired one for two hours next Sunday afternoon - hopefully we each will still be in one piece afterwards & able to go out to his favourite Chinese restaurant for a Birthday buffet!

I was out shopping the other day & spotted a couple of paper crafting magazines which had some nice freebies with them. After trying to decide which one to get and not making up my mind I finally decided I'd been good enough to treat myself to both! One was "The Cardmaker's Collection" featuring dies, embossing folder, stamps & paper samples from Couture Creations latest collection "Sea Breeze" - just the thing for making some men's cards. I love the embossing folder! I was also pleased there was an anchor die as it may well come in handy for some wedding décor next year. In the meantime the collection will come in handy for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

I did make a wee mistake, I forgot to check which way up the card blank was and stuck the already rope-stamped blue card the wrong way around, hence the flipped layout. I only noticed when I was ready to put the "Framing the Breeze" panel on!

I started off with a 6" x 6" Kraft card base which was given a mat of light blue before adding a panel of white card embossed using the Sea Breeze "Framing the Breeze" folder. The card was then given a light brushing with "Faded Jeans" Distress ink and highlighted with Cosmic Shimmer's "Cast Bronze" gilding wax.

The light blue card was stamped with the knotted rope stamp in Vintage Sepia and two circles were cut out and stamped; one with a ships wheel and the other with a compass from a Hot off the Press set. The stamps were then heat embossed with a clear powder and lightly gilded. A die cut anchor in matt bronze metallic cardstock was placed in the centre circle of the embossed design.

I Used

Cardstock

Kraft Card 6x6" Blank - Hobbycraft

White Supersmooth -

Blue - American Crafts "Summer" 12x12"

Dies, Stamps, Embossing Folders

Anchor Die - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Ships Wheel & Knotted Rope Stamps - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Framing the Breeze Embossing Folder - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Compass & Life is an Adventure Stamps - Hot Off The Press

Inks, etc

Vintage Sepia - Versafine

Faded Jeans - Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Cast Bronze Gilding Wax - Cosmic Shimmer